Drum Barracks
Case File: Drum Barracks Location: Wilmington, California Date: '''1862 '''Description: The military outpost was built near the Los Angeles Harbor in 1862 as a key center for training and processing troops. Today, all that remains is a single building, which is now a museum. Case History: Marge O'Brien is the museum's director and curator of the Drum Barracks, but she also believes the place is haunted. Marge and the employees here have experienced paranormal activity. "I can lock the rooms at night, in fact, very religiously...." She reports. "I check all the rooms. They're locked, the lights are off, the shades are down, and you come here at 8:00 in the morning and the light in the parlor might be on and then again it might not, but the shades may be up." She continues: "I'm sitting in my office and something will take my attention. Either a window will rattle, the roses will hit against the window, some the wind possibly. But something attracts me to the fact that I should be checking something. I will walk over to the parlor. Nine chances out of ten when I have this feeling and I open the door, more likely than not, the lights on the table are on. Most times, I will walk up the stairs and check the gun room. Very often, that too has the lights on and the window blinds open even though they have been closed and down. Because, the rule here is that after every tour, you pull the shades down, turn off the light and lock the door." Yasmin Malyeri is one of the guides who helped restore the location; she also believes the location is haunted. She tells the following story: "I put down the blinds and turned off the light and locked the door and left. I came downstairs and left the building. There was nobody around. When I looked up, I saw the blind went up really slowly. It gave the impression that someone was holding it, you know, someone was doing it." Fred Duran is an exterminator for the city of Los Angeles, and the museum is one of his regular stops. He didn't believe in ghosts until one day he was in the kitchen and a man asked to get some water. Fred said the man was in some sort of Civil War outfit and asked for someone named Maria. At the time, Fred thought he was some sort of employee, but Marge told him it was one of the ghosts. Background: Coming up Investigations: Psychic Barbara Conner has investigated the Drum Barracks and believes the location is full of restless spirits. She claims several of them play cards in the officer's lounge, and one phantom is more aggressive than the rest. He told Barbara he wanted his chair closer to the fireplace because he was cold. Marge knew this was Lt. Col. James Freeman Curtis whose foot was left frostbitten while he was fighting Indians up in Washington. Right around the ankle, above where the nerve endings were, there was a great deal of pain which he suffered much of his life, and he would wear a boot that was a size smaller so that he could have more control of that foot and he dragged it. Barbara also solved a thumping noise as the ghost of a little boy bouncing a ball and reported that Colonel Curtis wanted a plaque displayed that he had received in his work with Indians. Extra Notes: This case originally ran on the October 28, 1992 episode. Results: Unsolved Links: * Drum Barracks Museum Website * Drum Barracks on Unsolved.com * Drum Barracks on Wikipedia ---- Category: California Category:1862 Category:1987 Category: Ghosts Category: Unsolved Category:Military-Related Cases